WAN AZIZAH

Saturday, December 19, 1998 Published at 08:54 GMT World: Asia-PacificAnwar's wife pleads for Ramadan release Anwar: Focus of a Malaysia's pro-reform movement The wife of Malaysia's sacked deputy Prime Minister, Anwar Ibrahim, has appealed to the government to release him on bail during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Mr Anwar's wife, Wan Azizah Ismail, made the plea while submitting an application to register a new group that will press for political reform.
Signing up: Wan Azizah registers new groupWan Azizah announced the creation of the Movement for Social Justice - Adil - on 10 December, the fiftieth anniversary of the UN Declaration of Human Rights. She says the group is not a political party and would not contest elections.
"The objective is to fight for the freedom of people along democratic lines for all strata of society," she said.
"It's not a springboard. It's a movement to bring about social justice."
Under Malaysia's Societies Act, Adil must be registered with the authorities otherwise meetings or gatherings under its name could be deemed illegal.
Reform movement
The group is the first step towards establishing a formal role for the spontaneous movement known as "reformasi" that sprang up around Mr Anwar after his dismissal in September.
Mr Anwar is currently on trial on charges of corruption related to sodomy and sexual misconduct. He has denied all charges and says they are part of a politically motivated conspiracy to end his political career.
He is being held in a prison outside the capital, Kuala Lumpur.
Ramadan is scheduled to start in Malaysia on Sunday exactly 13 weeks after Mr Anwar was arrested under the Internal Security Act.
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